ISBN 9781619119512.

The octave mandolin is valued for its rich tone and wide range of potential use in a variety of musical settings. This book contains 27 easy to intermediate pieces from the Baroque era that have been carefully chosen and arranged to benefit from the longer scale and deeper voice of the big mandolin. The music is presented in both standard notation and tablature, making it easily playable on the mandocello, mandola or standard mandolin. Thirteen composers are represented, including six pieces by J. S. Bach, four by G. F. Handel and three by G. P. Telemann.

In this sequel to The Complete Mandolinist, world-renowned mandolinist Marilynn Mair expands on her previous method books, presenting over 100 compositions that span 5 centuries, works she has thoughtfully edited or arranged for mandolin. Each piece is accompanied by a paragraph or two of musical context, and the book also includes 24 short essays on the evolution of musical style, drawn from Marilynns decades as a Professor of Music History. Music by great composers like Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, and Beethoven mixes with interesting compositions by little-known mandolin composers like Piccone, Barbella, Leone, and Gervasio, works Marilynn has discovered during her performing and recording career. Concert pieces range from quite easy to very advanced, with most lying between those two extremes. In addition to music of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century, Marilynn includes contemporary pieces by some of her favorite composers writing today. This book holds a musical world Marilynn has compiled and presents to you. The Complete Mandolinist, Volume 2: Music in Context, is a book you will reach for again and again.

ISBN 9781609742959. Most of the music in this book comes from editions or manuscripts from England in the late 1500ICOs. There are also a few French pieces. The cittern was popular in Italy, England and France. Aside from various tunings, there were two main kinds of instruments being played during the 16th and 17th centuries: the 4 course (four sets of doubled strings), and the 6 course cittern with several editions of music to go along with both. The pieces I have chosen for this book were all written for the 4 course instrument and fall into three main categories: dance music, song arrangements and free pieces. The free pieces are basically preludes that explore the melodic range of the instrument. As the title suggests these pieces can be played very freely and need not have a very strict tempo. The dance pieces are not really meant to be danced to, but rather take their form and rhythm from the popular court dances of the time. These can be played with a wide range of overall tempo, but once a tempo is chosen, should be strictly adhered to. The song arrangements are settings of popular songs of the time as well as more formal vocal settings. Care should be taken in making the melody clear and singing. Since the range of the cittern and mandolin are the same, John Holenko has kept the melodies intact. Because of the difference in tuning however, the voicing of the harmonies have been changed so as to fit on the mandolin.